Google Trends Goes Real-Time

Google just announced its biggest update to Google Trends since 2012 when it merged with Insights for Search. The new version provides users with real-time data about trending searches ranked in order of popularity.

On the homepage, there's a ranked, real-time list of trending stories, which takes into account not only Google searches, but YouTube and Google News searches as well. It combines all of this to give you a better sense of what's trending on the web.

"You can now find real-time data on everything from the FIFA scandal to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign kick-off, and get a sense of what stories people are searching for," says Nimrod Tamir from the Google Trends Team. "Many of these changes are based on feedback we’ve collected through conversations with hundreds of journalists and others around the world—so whether you're a reporter, a researcher, or an armchair trend-tracker, the new site gives you a faster, deeper and more comprehensive view of our world through the lens of Google Search."

"You can now explore minute-by-minute, real-time data behind the more than 100 billion searches that take place on Google every month, getting deeper into the topics you care about," he adds. "During major events like the Oscars or the NBA Finals, you’ll be able to track the stories most people are searching for and where in the world interest is peaking. Explore this data by selecting any time range in the last week from the date picker."

Google says it has expanded its breadth of coverage to include data for more niche topics isn smaller geographies.

In addition to the new Google Trends, Google is posting data sets on specific topics on Github with the Google Trends Datastore.

From there, you can download data sets listed by date, coverage, and subject. Current ones include sets about the Denmark elections and NBA finals.

The redesigned Google Trends homepage is launching in 28 countries with more on the way.